Here’s what Minnesota influencers think of the pending TikTok deal

TikTok will be able to continue operating in the United States with the help of an executive order signed by President Trump on Thursday.

The order will enable an American-led of group of investors to purchase a version of the platform from China’s ByteDance. The deal resolves national security concerns by removing the application from the “control” of a foreign adversary, according to the executive order.

While the deal is not yet finalized and the White House has not said who exactly would own the U.S. version of the app, the list of potential investors include several Trump allies.

The software giant Oracle, whose co-founder is the billionaire Larry Ellison, will take a stake and media mogul Rupert Murdoch is also said to be involved, according to The New York Times. The Emirati investment firm MGX could join, too. This contradicts Trump’s statement during the signing, when he said: “This is going to be American-operated all the way.”

Here’s what three Minnesota-based creators think of the pending TikTok deal.

Because of the uncertainty around TikTok, Minnesota creator Kristen Lease, who shares Minnesota travel and things to do, no longer uses TikTok as her primary platform. The news of the pending deal has not eased those concerns, she said.

“I think it’s a little concerning now that we’re seeing social media changing ownership into the same hands of the people that own traditional media as well,” she said.

While Lease still reposts her Instagram content on her TikTok account, she no longer accepts paid collaboration deals on the platform. She worries about creators who rely on TikTok as their main source of income.

“We just have to assume that, on social media, the audiences that we build are just not our own. They could be taken at any point, so we have to plan ahead and create other channels to get to our audiences,” Lease said.

For now, Lease is just going to wait and see.

“Hopefully, we’ll still be able to see different voices come through, but there’s still a lot unknown about the algorithm and who’s going to control that and how that’s going to work,” Lease said.

TikTok influencer Sade Young posts about her foodie adventures around the Twin Cities. When she saw the news about a U.S. version of TikTok, she felt worried about freedom of speech. Her TikTok isn’t political, but she does get a lot of news from the app.

“I feel like he’s [Trump] an unsafe and dangerous person and his affiliates are as well, which could reflect in the platform and how data is used and how people choose to show up,” she said. “They’re gonna scare people away from speaking, from self-expression.”

Initially TikTok was more of her “escape,” but six months ago she started posting more regularly. Instagram felt like a place where she had to be polished. On TikTok, she could be herself.

“There was this separation from the administration with TikTok that we will be losing,” she said.

TikTok influencer Allye Akwa doesn’t call herself an influencer. She just goes on the app to talk.

“I usually talk about the North Loop, and I’m very hot and cold,” Akwa said. “One day I love the North Loop, one day I hate it.”

“I do think the whole thing is a little sketchy,” she said.

But she noted that “Elon Musk bought Twitter and we adapted to that.”

She wasn’t too keen on TikTok being owned by people who are close to Trump, but also didn’t think it was great that TikTok was owned by a company outside of the United States.

“I don’t know what the alternative would be because I would prefer that TikTok doesn’t go away,” she said.

Akwa has been doing freelance social media work for over a decade. TikTok is her favorite platform right now.